Saturday at Laguna Seca with Scott Jones

It’s great to be back on Asphalt & Rubber again, sitting next to Jensen in a media center at a race track, preparing photos for the A&R readers.

It’s great to be back at a World Superbike race as well, where the atmosphere is more relaxed than MotoGP. The bikes are just as shiny, and apparently you can just mosey down to your local dealer and buy one!

The bike above rolled right off the show room floor, I’m told. It would look great in my garage.

There’s also a jovial family atmosphere. Here two generations of Haslam watch Superpole 1, which is more amusing to some than to others.

Chaz Davies took the honors in Superpole 2 on a day that featured two Ducatis at the top of the time sheet.

While superficially the two Aruba.it Ducati riders look as different as night and day, they were both fast, and Davide Giugliano was only .196 slower than Davies.

Davies’ leathers were a bit scuffed but that didn’t slow him down.

Giugliano is another among the Kevin Schwantz fans riding at the World Championship level, and wears #34 in honor of his hero.

Jordi Torres was a character in Moto2 and now that he’s in WSBK, he’s a fast character. He had the crowd in stitches in the post Superpole press conference.

Last year at Laguna Seca, Tom Sykes came third and first in the two Superbike races, and now he’s looking for similar results in his bid to keep second place in the championship, ahead of Leon Haslam.